Seated impression fitting aids



NOV. 18, 1958 Q UN 2,860,416

SEATED IMPRESSION FITTING AIDS Filed Jan. 24, 1952 F/G 5 INVENTOR. 2.3%?- W United States Patent 2,86%,416 Patented Nov. 18, 1958 SEATED IMPRESSION FITTING AIDS Charles E. Pfund, Timonium, Md., assignor of one-half to Joseph E. Rusz, Arlington, Va.

Application January 24, 1952, Serial No. 268,011 7 Claims. c1; 33-3 This invention relates generally to fitting and measuring aids and more particularly to such devices as adapted for obtaining the seated impress of an object as, for example, for obtaining the measure of the fit of a shoe in relation to the foot of the wearer. The invention will be described with relation to such exemplary embodiments.

Many prior art devices have been provided for the determinationof the correctness of fit of a shoe on the foot of the wearer. These devices include such expensive expedients as the fluoroscope, in which the skeletal outline of the foot may be directly viewed, devices in which the area of the foot may be viewed through transparent portions of a model orfitting shoe, and devices in which a moist coloring compound is utilized to produce a visible indication upon the foot or stocking of the wearer or a mark in the nature of a finger print from the moist coloring compound which is applied to the toes or stocking of thewearer in'some suitable manner. These devices suffer from many limitations and on the whole leave something to be desired as evidenced from the almost universal lack of dependence upon such devices in the current retail practices where shoes are fitted and purchased by individual wearers. In addition to the aforementioned requirement of expensive apparatus, the disadvantage of X-ray apparatus 'as a source of rays of generally harmful nature upon extensive exposure thereto is well known. Furthermore, the outline of the bones of the feet does not, at least to the untrained eye, give an indication of the correctness of the fit of the shoe to the foot of the wearer and thus fails' to dispel all doubts which may remain in the purchasers mind. Use of transparent viewing sections in a model fitting-shoe has the obvious disadvantage in that it does not give any information regarding the actual shoe which is to be purchased, which of course, may fit quite differently than any so-called model shoe. The use of a moist color compound has the disadvantage of discoloring the wearers foot or stocking as well as the hands of the clerks and the furnishings if relied upon for continuous use in a retail establishment. Such devices, furthermore, have provided an indication in the nature of an alarm and fail to provide an indication of the relative fit of the foot and shoe.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a simple and economical device for determining the relative fit of an object relative to a seated position.

Another object is to provide a shoe-fitting aid which is perfectly safe to use and provides a convincing indication of the fit of a shoe.

A further object is to provide a fitting aid which produces a convincing indication of shoe-fit without any attendant discoloration of the foot or stocking of the wearer by a marking compound.

An additional object is to provide a shoe-fitting device which is simple and economical to manufacture, which may be readily transported and handled in a condition ready for use and thus may be readily available in both -a footprint upon the inserted insole.

store and home for the determination of the fit of a shoe without undue expense or inconvenience.

Another object is to provide a simple, economical and practical shoe-fitting aid which provides an indication of the outline of the foot of the wearer relative to the insole outline of the shoe exactly as the wearers foot is positioned in the shoe during a normal wearing period.

These and other objects are accomplished in accordance with the present invention by means of a composite insole which is provided in the various shoe sizes to exactly fit the insole dimensions of the shoe to be fitted. The composite insole of the instant invention may be placed in the shoe before a fitting and the shoe then placed upon the wearers fo-ot'in the normal manner. By taking a few steps up and down the room, as is customary in fitting shoes, the weight of the wearer produces Upon removal of the composite insole from the shoe, an impression showing the shape of the wearers foot relative to the insole contour of the shoe as the foot actually rested therein may be seen.

The invention may be better understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a composite insole of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view along line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of an insole having an impression of a foot thereon;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view similar to that of Fig. 2 for a modification of the invention;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view similar to that of Fig. 2 for a further modification; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of a modification.

Referring now to Fig. 1, there is shown an insole 11 which is constructed to fit the insole dimensions of the particular shoe to be fitted. The insole 11 is of multiple ply construction as will hereinafter more fully appear and the layers of the insole 11 are held together by a non-permanent adhesive 12 which may preferably be arranged around the periphery of the insole. A portion of the insole periphery 13, preferably near the heel portion, may be provided with the adhesive between the layers omitted to facilitate separating the layers by a stripping action.

Referring to Fig. 2 the details of the layer construction of the insole will be described. The insole has an upper member 14 and a lower member 15 and disposed therebetween is a pressure transferable substance 16 which preferably may be in the form of a non-drying vehicle with a suitable pigment. The pressure transferable substance 16 need not constitute a separate layer in the construction of the insole 11 but may conveniently be in the form of a backing to a pressure transfer paper such as, for example, that known in the trade as Hectograph duplicating paper. In such an arrangement either the upper layer 14 or the lower layer 15 could be the duplicating paper with the backing substance attached thereto with the other layer then being a clear preferably glazed paper or other suitable substance. The markable insole 15 may be of plastic or other material providing suitable stiffness for ease of insertion into the shoe. With an arrangement, for example, having the upper layer 14 with the transfer material 16 as a backing thereon, the tem porary use of the insole 11 in accordance with the present invention will produce an impression of the foot of the wearer on the printing or impression-receiving sheet 15.

In Fig. 3 there is shown the impression-receiving surthe insole of the shoe to be fitted during the fitting operation, the impression 17 transferred thereto shows the exact position of the imprint of the foot relative to the insole of the shoe, which impression is displayed by merely removing the insole 11 and stripping apart the adhesively held layers 14 and 15 thereby exposing the impression of the foot 17 for observation as it appears on the member 15. The shading of the impression 17 in Fig. 3 is intended to indicate a slight gradation of the print in regions of lighter pressure.

In Fig. 4 a modification of the invention is shown in which the composite insole is made up of a single layer 18 having a plastic deformable impressionable coating 19 thereon. The impressionable layer 19 may be in the form of a soft wax or other non-marking plastic compound which under the weight of the body of the wearer will be depressed to form the impression of the foot relative to the insole outline as hereinbefore described.

As a further modification of the present invention an alternative construction may be employed. Referring to Fig. 5 the alternative sectional construction would comprise a stilt opaque insole 21 having a tacky wax layer 22 thereon. The insole 21 has a translucent sheet 23 of lightweight flexible material, for example, onion skin tissue in loose surface contact with the layer of wax 22. Upon fitting a shoe the tissue 23 will adhere selectively to the wax in accordance with the pressure exerted by the foot, thus producing a darkened impression of the foot due to the difference in light reflecting properties of the adhering and non-adhering portions of the translucent tissue 23.

In the invention as hereinbefore described with reference to Fig. 2 a modification is provided as shown in Fig. 6 wherein the composite insole is made up of a sheet 14 having the coating of transfer material 16 thereon removably secured to the impression-receiving insole 15 by the edge adhesive portions 12. A pull-out sheet 24 of tissue or the like is placed between the transfer material 16 and the insole 15. The pull-out sheet 24 will preserve the surface of insole 15 clean and free of any marking from the material 16 during shipping, storage and handling of the article 11. Immediately before a fitting impression is to be made the tissue pull-out 24 can be removed thus placing the layer 16 in pressure operable marking adjacency with the marking surface of insole 115.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

l. A fitting aid for a shoe comprising a thin imprintable insole member for orienting said aid in said shoe, a thin sheet having a coating of pressure transferable marking compound on one surface thereof and substantially congruent with the portion of said insole desired to be imprinted by thefoof of the wearer, and means separably' securing said sheet and said member in face adjacency with said compound therebetween.

2. A fitting aid for a shoe comprising a thin imprintable insole member for inserting in said shoe, a thin sheet substantially congruent to said member and having a coating of pressure transferable marking compound on one surface thereof over the approximate area of said insole desired to be imprinted by the foot of the wearer, and means separably securing said sheet and said member in face adjacency with said compound therebetween.

3. An article for use as an aid in fitting in a shoe comprising an insole member for orienting said article in said shoe, a thin translucent sheet positioned over at least a portion of said insole and a layer of adhesive between said sheet and said portion for selectively adhering said sheet to said portion in accordance with the pressure applied thereto.

4. An article for use as an aid in fitting a shoe comprising a composite insole member insertable in said shoe, said insole having a surface layer portion removably positioned over at least a portion of said insole, a layer of pressure transferable marking compound between said portions, and a removable pull-out sheet between said layer and one of said portions.

5. A fitting aid for obtaining an impression of a foot in a shoe comprising an insole member for inserting in said shoe, said insole member having a markable portion over the area corresponding to the desired impress of said foot, a layer of pressure marking material substantially contiguous with said portion and operable under the normal weight of the wearer on said foot for pro ducing on said portion said impress of said foot, and a pressure transferring sheet on said insole member covering said marking material. I p 7 I 6. An aid according to claim 5 in which a second sheet is removably interposed between said layer of pressure marking material and said markable portion.

7. An article for use as an aid in fitting a shoe comprising a relatively stiff insole member for orienting said article in said shoe, a relatively flexible pressure-transferring mark-protecting sheet member removably secured to said insole member, a layer of pressure transferable making compound between said sheet and said insole and covered thereby for pressure operative marking relation with at least one of said members and a removable pullout sheet between said layer and one of said members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,225,500 Rosino May 8, 1917 1,833,287 Hadley Nov. 24, 1931 2,464,571 Gardner Mar. 15, 1949 

